West Nile Virus Found In Dead Crow In Hampton

Mosquito-borne Disease Can Be Fatal

Hampton health officials have confirmed a case of West Nile virus, a deadly mosquito-borne disease that caused seven deaths in New York City last year.

The local case of West Nile was confirmed in a dead crow Friday by the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services in Richmond. The crow is the seventh found with the disease in Virginia this year.

The bird found in Hampton Roads was discovered last month at the Hampton Yacht Club, after a citizen reported it to local health officials.

The health department has been looking to the public for reports of unexplained deaths in birds to help monitor the spread of the disease -which has been found in birds in numerous states throughout the East Coast. The disease can be transmitted to people by mosquitoes that have bitten an infected bird.

West Nile tends to cause flulike symptoms, headaches, muscle aches, fever and rashes in humans. Hampton Health District Director S. William Berg said most people who got West Nile would likely assume that they had contracted a minor virus and would simply wait for the symptoms to subside. The symptoms do subside in most cases. But severe symptoms cause disorientation, drowsiness, serious muscle fatigue and swelling in the brain.

There are no vaccinations or effective medicines available to treat the disease.

Anyone is susceptible to West Nile, but people who are older than 65 are at greater risk of suffering severe symptoms or death. All the deaths in New York and New Jersey this year and last year occurred in people who were at least 65.

No cases of West Nile virus have been found in humans, mosquitoes or horses in Virginia this year.

Despite the seriousness of the disease, Berg said, there is "no cause for alarm" because mosquitoes - the agents responsible for transmitting the disease to people - aren't active in cool November weather.

"I think it will be extremely unusual to get infected this time of year," he said.

The health director said that when temperatures dip below 55 degrees over a consistent period, mosquitoes move into a hibernationlike state where they cease moving around and biting people.

Weather forecasters are predicting lows in the 30s and 40s for the rest of the week and highs in the upper 40s and 50s.

Berg said the health department wasn't taking any special measures right now. However, he said, the department might issue additional reminders next spring, advising people to rid their yards of standing water - where mosquitoes breed. He also said people would be advised to cover their skin whenever they were outside and to wear mosquito repellent.

The health director said he wasn't planning any additional action beyond the reminders because Hampton had a good record of counting mosquitoes and spraying when the number got high.

Berg said he and other health officials weren't surprised by the occurrence of West Nile here. That's because, he said, officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that the disease would continue to spread in the East Coast after it was found throughout the New York City area last year. Berg said he didn't think that West Nile would be a significant health problem in Hampton Roads.

During the summer, two horses in Suffolk and one in Chesapeake tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, another mosquito-borne illness. A few cases of EEE are found in horses in Eastern Virginia each year. A couple of human deaths are caused nationally by EEE each year.

West Nile virus

West Nile tends to cause flulike symptoms, headaches, muscle aches, fever and rashes in humans. Most people who get West Nile will likely assume that they've contracted a minor virus. But severe cases result in disorientation, drowsiness, serious muscle fatigue and swelling in the brain. People older than 65 are at greatest risk of severe symptoms or death.

- Source: S. William Berg, hampton Health District director

Keith Rushing can be reached at 247-7870 or by e-mail at krushing@dailypress.com